Democrats Lose on Alito

Make no mistake about it, Judge Samuel Alito is headed for the nation’s highest court, and Senate Democrats, well, if there is a laughingstock hall of shame, it should be reserving some wall space for them.

Maybe there is even some special prize awarded for reducing the nominee’s wife to tears as she had to sit there and endure hearing her husband’s reputation, ethics and character besmirched, even as he is questioned about his level of respect for women and minorities.

The tirade by our own Sen. Edward M. Kennedy over Alito’s involvement in Concerned Alumni of Princeton 20 years ago was at once shameful and pathetic. Shameful because, in the end, committee staffers combing through four boxes of documents on the organization that belonged to its founder could find nothing mentioning Alito’s name. (He joined, he said, because he opposed Princeton’s efforts to throw ROTC off campus.) And pathetic because it was all so irrelevant to the kind of justice Alito will become. Maybe Kennedy thought that was red meat for liberal zealots, but from here it couldn’t even pass for hamburger.

Also a prime candidate for the hall of shame was Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) — he of the 12-minute question, who yesterday said of the confirmation process, “The system’s broken.” Well, as long as airheads like Biden are doing the questioning, we might actually agree.

For 18 hours over four days, Alito was forced to endure lectures and sermonettes from senators (friend and foe alike), a handful of solid questions and a rousing game of “Get the Judge.” Through it all Alito showed unflagging patience and even good humor, good qualities for the next member of the Supreme Court.